‘Downsizing’ Trailer: Honey, They Shrunk Matt Damon

Can we put a moratorium on trailers using the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime”? Now that we’ve gotten that bit of unofficial business out of the way, here’s the first full official trailer for Downsizing, the new film from Alexander Payne (Nebraska, The Descendants). We’ll have our review from the Toronto Film Festival later on, but until then, you can sneak a peek at one of the more puzzling films to premiere at this year’s fest.

Early word on Downsizing is…well, it’s a bit baffled, but that makes Payne’s latest seem all the more intriguing. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig star in the upcoming film, which takes place in a near-future where scientists have figured out how to solve the Earth’s over-population problem (and its effects on the environment): Shrinking people down to tiny versions of themselves and sending them to live in a tiny new community (with three Cheesecake Factories!). It is, as Damon’s character says, pretty wild. (As is the fact that money is worth a lot more when you’re tiny, making the transition seem completely worth it.)

When scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall as a solution to over-population, Paul (Matt Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) decide to abandon their stressed lives in order to get small and move to a new downsized community — a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.